Monthly Archives: February 2017

Split Tosses Rings to Remain Box Office Champ

The debut of Paramount's new horror film Rings couldn't dethrone Split, which held strong in first place at the domestic box office this weekend.

M. Night Shyamalan's thriller earned an estimated $14.6 million to remain the box office leader for its third consecutive week. The $9 million film has proven to be a very profitable investment for Universal, as Split has already made a whopping $98.7 million domestically.

Meanwhile, Rings, the latest entry in Paramount's franchise, opened in second place with $13 million. As noted by Variety, the horror thriller from director F. Javier Gutierrez earned less than its predecessors, with the original Ring opening to $15 million and The Ring Two debuting to $35.1 million. Rings had a production budget of $25 million and has grossed an additional $15.2 million internationally for an estimated worldwide total of $28.2 million.

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Lando: Billy Dee Williams on Meeting Donald Glover

The original Lando Calrissian, Billy Dee Williams, has shared his thoughts on meeting Donald Glover for the upcoming Han Solo standalone movie.

As spotted by a fan on Twitter, Williams and Glover were having lunch together while discussing where to take Lando next, and how different Glover's take should be on the character from Williams' iconic portrayal.

The Batman: These Directors Are Rumored to Be on Shortlist

As Warner Bros. continues its search for a director to helm The Batman following Ben Affleck's departure, a list of directors rumored to be in contention to helm the DC movie has surfaced.

According to Forbes, "several names are floating around already," with a shortlist of contenders that includes George Miller (Mad Max), Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Gavin O’Connor (Warrior, The Accountant), Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Arrival) and Matt Ross (Captain Fantastic).

The outlet notes that while Warner Bros. is expected to announce the new director soon, the studio likely won't want to rush its decision, especially when considering how another one of its upcoming DC movies, The Flash, has already had two directors leave the project, and is now getting a complete rewrite.

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Life: Watch the Super Bowl Spot for Ryan Reynolds’ Next

Ryan Reynolds re-teams with his Safe House director Daniel Espinosa for the sci-fi thriller Life, also starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Rebecca Ferguson. We have your first look at the movie's Super Bowl LI TV spot as well as its new poster.

Here''s the official synopsis for Life, which opens stateside March 24th via Sony Pictures: "Life tells the story of the six-member crew of the International Space Station that is on the cutting edge of one of the most important discoveries in human history: the first evidence of extraterrestrial life on Mars. As the crew begins to conduct research, their methods end up having unintended consequences and the life form proves more intelligent than anyone ever expected."

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13 Movie Sequels That Took Forever

With Mary Poppins Returns hitting theaters 54 years after the original film was released, we figured it was time to look again at some of the most notable dry spells between sequels...

Attempting to resurrect yesteryear classics and create lighting in a bottle twice isn't a new trend. It's been going on a long time -- even before the cinematic landscape was filled with franchises and movies designed, from the get go, to be the first entry of a quadrilogy. Even on TV, shows like Twin Peaks, Full House, X-Files, and Gilmore Girls are being "revived" more than a decade (or decades) later in order to recapture some of the original magic. But we're talkin' movies here, so let's not clutter up the rec room. Also, we're specifically focusing on the second installments, the Part Twos, so you won't find films in here like seventh installment Force Awakens or the regrettable-in-retrospect fourth Indiana Jones flick Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

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IGN UK Podcast #369: We Are a Legion of Giant Ants

We've been watching Noah Hawley's new X-Men TV show Legion, which is pretty great but also pretty disorientating and weird. Joe's been spending all of his spare time crushing giant ants in Earth Defense Force 4.1, and thinks it might be the crowning achievement of video games (or something like that). For all this, some high-level Keyword Countdown, and more, get your ears around this:

IGN UK Podcast #369: We Are a Legion of Giant Ants

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Kojima Shares His Thoughts on Nintendo Switch

Metal Gear and Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima has commented on Nintendo’s new console, the Switch.

Speaking to IGN at RTX Sydney, Kojima said he especially likes the idea of starting a game at home and being able to continue on the go.

“You might be familiar with the fact that for a previous game that I did, we had a specification that we called 'Transfarring' where you could take the saved data from the PS Vita and move it over to the PS3 and back and forth like that,” Kojima told IGN. “I believe

is an extension of that idea. The fact you can play something at home and take it outside, this is the gamer's dream. The Switch is an evolution of that.”

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We Visit Disney’s Hidden Animation Library

“I’m standing inside the movies!”, I thought to myself. “I’m standing inside the Disney animated classics!”

This may sound like a strange to think, and yet it was, essentially, the literal truth. Because I was at Disney’s Animation Research Library, standing inside a room that contained almost all of the original animation that had been created for the early Disney animated films, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves up through The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Surrounding me, on row after row (placed on impressive, movable tracks to access) were different storage containers, each holding multiple pieces of cinema history.

The occasion was a press event promoting the new Digital HD and Blu-ray release for Pinocchio, which was only the second feature film Disney made, making it all the more appropriate that we were in what was referred to as “Walt’s Vault” -- one of 12 such vaults on the premises -- since all the films he personally worked on were in this room.

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Supergirl: David Harewood Teases the Martian Chronicles

Supergirl's second season has brought with it many big changes, and Martian Manhunter has been impacted as much as any character. So far this season we've seen see J'onn relocate the DEO, form a bond with fellow Martian refugee M'gann M'orrz and comes to terms with his inner demons after discovering that M'gann is actually a White Martian. Actor David Harewood has even been pulling double duty, as he's also been playing the vengeful Hank Henshaw, now reborn as Cyborg Superman.

It's been an eventful season for Harewood, and that won't change as the series gears up for more Martian-focused conflicts. We recently had the chance to chat with Harewood about J'onn's evolving role on the show, the challenge of playing two vastly different versions of the same character and what to expect from the upcoming Flash/Supergirl musical crossover. Martian Manhunter may not have been able to join in on the fun in Invasion, but fans will soon get to see him stand side-by-side with Barry Allen.

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